Uconn

Connecticut quarterback Johnny McEntee (18), left, throws during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Cincinnati at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

EAST HARTFORD -- The head coach spoke about being close, a break here or a break there. He spoke about working hard. He spoke about what a great group of guys populated his roster. All that is fine, but it can't cover up the only thing that really matters at this level of football.

2011: UConn finished 5-7.

2012: UConn finished 5-7.

And that just won't go away. Never, in fact. And it is something that no matter of wishing for a different bounce or one less injury will make better.

The fact of the matter is that the program Paul Pasqualoni inherited weeks after a Fiesta Bowl appearance and co-league championship is clearly no better and arguably worse than it was in January 2011.

There is just no escaping that ugly truth. And a disjointed 34-17 loss to Cincinnati in the season finale before another lackluster crowd at Rentschler Field (second smallest ever) will just linger and reinforce that truth all winter.

"My confidence level, my passion for it, my outlook on it has not changed one iota," said Pasqualoni. "I just think we have to get another recruiting class in here and have another great off-season program and get going."

Well, winning the off-season weightlifting battle will not do much to pacify a fan base that had a tough week. (No need to recap the reason why again.) Only wins can do that.

Yes, when you look back on all 12 games you can find moments where if they had gone the other way would have produced a far different finish in the damp and frigid cold of early December.

But aside from Notre Dame and Alabama, that seems to be an exercise that any team in the land could play.

Despite playing in a league that wrapped things up Saturday with exactly half of its current members declaring themselves co-champions, the Huskies just couldn't gather any momentum. They have gone from playing on the national stage against a legendary program (Oklahoma) to scrambling to try to salvage a bid to an insignificant bowl game in some woe-begotten locale.

Actually, give the economic reality, the loss to Cincy probably saved the school some money. There, that's something positive.

Pasqualoni, who has become a favorite scapegoat for the portion of the UConn fandom that thinks this stuff (football) is important, really had nowhere to turn after the game. The season is over, recruiting (a lifeline that even in the best of times doesn't typically have a positive impact for a few years) is underway and he must quickly focus on that.

It's always crucial at this level to stock your roster for the future. But given the state of the UConn program this morning, everything considered, it's perhaps even more critical than ever. And unfortunately for the head coach and his men, nothing has happened in recent times to make that job any easier.

"It's just a continuation of trying to elevate the talent that you have on the team, certainly. The skill level that you have on the team," said Pasqualoni. "The athleticism overall, really, at almost every position, you're trying to improve. That's kind of what, as a coach, you look at. Just trying to get better."

That will be a steep hill to climb, even coming off a 10-14 stretch. The Huskies lose six starters from defense, both tight ends, two key wide receivers and assorted other parts that in different ways formed the core of the team.

And really all that the head coach could grasp onto in the somber postgame room was that they were "close."

"In the past two years, if you go back and look, we've been in quite a few games where a touchdown or less decided those games. We had a few of those games this year. My outlook on it as a coach is that you are out there to win every game you play. It's always hard, with tough games, to accept them ... and I feel like, 'Yeah, we should have won that game.' There were games — coulda, shoulda, woulda — we were capable of winning, no question about that."

2011: UConn finished 5-7.

2012: UConn finished 5-7.

If this isn't what the bottom looks like for UConn football, no one wants to know what that could bring.

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